We sat and dripped sweat in the honey heat, listened to Mic D on the upright, and Mama Tracery checked on each table one by one. “Samuel,” Mama Tracery said, “you’re going to start paying a maintenance tax on those fritters if you don’t slow down boy; I spent my last penny on those broken legs.” “Yes ma’am,” Samuel said through bits of fried...
“I can’t believe we made it out of there for under thirty bucks,” Delilah said. “It’s too early to talk about money,” I said. “I should be sleeping right now, not ‘Sunday shopping’ and pushing carts in the hot sun.” “Don’t be a baby.” She clicked something in her pocket and a black BMW’s tailgate floated open...
I sat on the couch with a glass of two-dollar Cabernet. Sheldon came in at twelve forty-five with his shoulder’s rolled forward and back facing me. His head hung to one side as he fumbled at the lock. I didn’t cry, crying ends it before we can begin. I needed him to hear this. And like it or not, the drink might help. I asked him how work was. Sheldon pawed through the refrigerator, a...
Prompt: One good turn deserves another. —Aesop’s Fables — All I could see was gold and hot-white, and in the middle of it all, the most incredible figure I’d ever seen. The Spanish sun bleached away everything on that lost island, but not him. Its rays splashed all around his tall silhouette, but the pirate’s sword swung so wide and sliced so fine that it split that sun...
Here is a scene sketch I wrote this morning. Enjoy! — “What’s this, Arnie?” I said. “A note, genius.” “Who from?” “Boss.” I peeled the note off the counter and read as I headed into the back. It said I had received an official warning for poor work performance; that my drawer had been short three days in a row, and that, by accumulation...
Prompt: River Cliffs — A dozen proud pines stunk and softened along the river’s edge, back to the open earth after half a millennium. “This is what I’m talking about Sara, this is paradise!” I tasted the sweet grass in the air. “Ah! It’s like we’re adventuring across some fantasy land.” Sara didn’t respond, but struggled under the weight...
The roar woke me from the best dream I’d ever had. I was home, in the dream, and my red towel was there, and Sis, and me. I was there, but I could see myself like I was Blackdog standing over me on the couch. I rolled and kicked a cushion out of place. I rolled again and tore the corner of my towel. It was a normal day. Everything was perfect. Then the roar woke me up and the old growl...
The sun hung a yellow sash across Decon’s back, but stripped it when his office door rattled shut. “Do you know what it means to be Deputy?” “I think so,” the visitor said, “yes.” Decon turned. “I have a thing for you to do Humbert, a thing I can’t ask of the other officers to, do you understand what I’m saying?” Humbert rapped his boot heels together and stiffened his arms at his sides. “Yes sir...
Cypress boughs creaked in the dim; their pale green leaves danced with broken moonlight conducted by the insect ballad. The warm air lifted the smell of rot and damp wood. Montgomery sat at the edge of the buoyed pier, with his nose just above the opaque water. Behind him, orange lamp light pulsed from the porch of a wooden shack, white and grey with age; tied down here and patched there where...
Here is a quick morning prompt for you. Enjoy! — Prompt: Alone in my room — He stood half-wary out of my bedroom door and told me he loved me. Then he pushed the switch and slipped out with the light. When he’d gone his words hopped around me, on my mattress, and hung on the ceiling. They split as they leaped and splashed into one another again and talked over each other...
